Excerpts from a story a few days old; my comments in [color="Blue"]blue.

Evangelical leaders are frantically looking for ways to defeat Donald Trump

by Sarah Pulliam Bailey, Washington Post, December 10, 2015
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/acts-of-faith/wp/2015/12/10/evangelical-leaders-are-frantically-looking-for-ways-to-defeat-donald-trump/

Evangelical leaders are struggling to coalesce around one candidate who they believe could beat Trump.

The Republican field is full of candidates who could appeal to evangelicals because of their social conservative positions, including [color="Blue"]Uncle Ben Carson, former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee or former Pennsylvania senator Rick Santorum. [color="Blue"]No-support clowns all. But interviews with several evangelical insiders this week suggest that leaders are debating whether to support Sen. Ted Cruz (Tex.) or Sen. Marco Rubio (Fla.).

The latest national poll by Quinnipiac University had Trump tied with Cruz for first, at 24 percent, among white evangelical registered Republican voters.

However in Iowa, where evangelicals can have the biggest early impact, evangelical voters are moving behind Cruz. According to a Monmouth University survey released Monday, Cruz has 30 percent support from Iowa evangelicals, followed by Trump (18 percent).

There are no representative surveys of all evangelical leaders, but informal indicators suggest little support for Trump among elites. [color="Blue"]Elites don't like Trump. Rubio led an October survey of board members of the National Association of Evangelicals asking which candidate they support — including Democratic candidates. Rubio also led an informal survey of 103 evangelical leaders and "insiders" by WORLD magazine. [color="Blue"]They like Rubio.

Cruz has also seen a handful of high-profile endorsements and is expected to win among evangelical voters in Iowa. James Dobson, founder of Focus on the Family and an influential leader among some evangelicals, told The Washington Post that he is endorsing Cruz.

'I am very wary of Donald Trump," Dobson said in his email, citing Trump's business in gambling. "I would never vote for a king pin within that enterprise." [color="Blue"]What is the enterprise of GOP king maker Sheldon Adelson? Casinos, isn't it? I just can't understand why people say Christians are hypocrites.

Dobson's position characterizes the point of view of many evangelical leaders who are seeking ways to defeat Trump. Many dislike his involvement in gambling. [color="Blue"]But Adelson's backing their preferred candidates is fine.

The sense of urgency among many evangelical leaders to defeat Trump became clear this week after he proposed that Muslims be temporarily halted from immigrating to the United States.

Russell Moore, president of the Southern Baptist Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission, said Trump's comments this week "provided a sense of clarity" and sparked a backlash among evangelicals. [color="Blue"]Jesus loves the little children, all the children of the world. They are black and they are white, they are precious in his sight.

"Anyone who is familiar with the First Amendment and basic rights of due process in this country would revolt at the idea of what Trump was proposing," Moore said. [color="Blue"]It's Moore who's unfamiliar with basic constitutional rights. They apply to citizens, not non-citizens. Here is the law: http://tinyurl.com/of79lh6

Tony Perkins, president of the Family Research Council, [said,] "I would avoid making sweeping statements about what our policy should be for a particular class or set of people." [color="Blue"]He would avoid it because he's a cuckservative. Even Jimmy Carter had few qualms about temporarily halting the immigration of Iranians during the Iranian hostage crisis and singling them out for visa review, resulting in the deportation of many.

Ohio conservative leader Phil Burress said leaders in his coalition are still deciding whom they will endorse, but he believes there's a 95 percent chance that they will go with Cruz. But Burress also supports Rubio and would back him if he became a front-runner. [color="Blue"]Evangelical leaders like Rubio mucho.

John Stemberger, president of Florida Family Action, [said,] "Rubio has an almost identical voting record [identical to Cruz's]. He's extremely winsome, the finest communicator [color="Blue"]? in American politics today." [color="Blue"]"Winsome" is defined by thefreedictionary.com as follows: "charming in a childlike or naive way." Among the site's synonyms for "winsome" are pretty, fair, sweet, attractive, fetching, cute, alluring, bewitching, delectable, comely, glamorous, lovely, tempting. Better not bend over for the soap in the GOP clubhouse shower, Marco. And guard your rear end in church, too.

Scott Clement contributed to this report.